NA LCS: FlyQuest shocks Dignitas in gauntlet

Hai "Hai" Du Lam and his FlyQuest teammates pulled off an upset of Team Dignitas on Friday in Los Angeles to move forward in the North American League of Legends Championship Series gauntlet. Provided by Riot Games

FlyQuest shattered expectations Friday in Los Angeles and destroyed Team Dignitas in a 3-0 series victory to move on to the second round of the North American Regional Qualifiers in its quest to claim North America's third seed for the 2018 League of Legends World Championships.

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Coming into the series, FlyQuest was the clear underdog after narrowly avoiding relegation in the Summer Split. Dignitas, meanwhile, made a solid run during the Summer Split playoffs before ultimately finishing in fourth.

Decisiveness and macro calls were basically all FlyQuest needed to walk away with a win. Despite the mid-game providing the bulk of the action in the series, both teams had their shot at using an early lead to find success, but only FlyQuest was able to persevere. Quick and clean calls proved critical to the outcome of each game, with a series of on-the-fly decisions deciding the outcome of each game.

Game 1 was seemingly decided from very early on, with FlyQuest executing an impressive dive that allowed the team to pick up several kills and build up a large early lead, which it used to push ahead and close out the game. Although Dignitas built a massive lead in the early part of Game 2 due to a FlyQuest misplay early on, Dignitas once again struggled and gave up the lead through a number of teamfight losses. Although Dignitas heavily focused top lane and built a huge lead for top laner Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho on Renekton, the team was unable to use the lead, allowing FlyQuest to take another convincing game.

From start to finish, Dignitas seemed unsure of what to do on a larger scale other than individual plays. In both Game 2 and Game 3, Dignitas was able to shut down FlyQuest's top laner An "Balls" Le. Despite this, it could not capitalize on the lead, allowing FlyQuest to make moves across the rest of the map and stay competitive. With Jason "WildTurtle" Tran and Hai "Hai" Lam consistently performing well and being left unscathed, FlyQuest had consistent dual threats that allowed the team to find openings time and again. Though former FlyQuest member and current Dignitas AD carry Johnny "Altec" Ru was able to put up decent numbers, he could not dismantle his former team alone.

FlyQuest will take on Counter Logic Gaming next in the gauntlet to continue its quest to qualify for the 2017 World Championships.